YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE! (And that is not a compliment)
JESUS VS THE HYPOCRITES Matthew 21:12-17 Christ found some of the courts of the temple turned into a market for cattle and things used in the sacrifices, and partly occupied by the money-changers. Our Lord drove them from the place, as he had done at his entering upon his ministry. John 2:13-17. His works testified of him more than the hosannas; and his healing in the temple was the fulfilling the promise, that the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former. If Christ came now into many parts of his visible church, how many secret evils he would discover and cleanse! And how many things daily practiced under the cloak of religion, would he show to be more suitable to a den of thieves than to a house of prayer!1 The concept of the word hypocrite comes from the Greeks. This was a word used to give actors a compliment for doing well. Being called a hypocrite was a compliment given to an actor. The use of the word as related to other applications especially those of religion is not meant as a compliment. When one is called a hypocrite is a reference to the fact that they are NOT what they are claiming. Like the Greek root of the word, those called a hypocrite are being referenced as acting the part as opposed to being genuine. Hypocrites are generally easy to spot. As a general rule hypocrites are steeped in self-righteousness and go around condemning others. Adam Clarke commented this way about hypocrites, “properly a stage-player, who acts under a mask, personating a character different from his own; a counterfeit, a dissembler; one who would be thought to be different from what he really is. A person who wishes to be taken for a follower of God, but who has nothing of religion except the outside.�2 1 2
Matthew Henry Concise Commentary. Matthew. Chapter 21. Adam Clarke. Commentary on Matthew. Chapter 6. Verse 5. Pg. 131.